Your Data is Worth Thousands—Here’s Who’s Selling It (And How to Stop It)
A step by step guide for opting-out of data brokers
I knew companies tracked my data.
I just didn’t know how bad it was—until I checked for myself.
One night, I decided to run a simple search on an online data removal service to see just how many websites had my personal information.
I expected a few results. Maybe some old accounts I forgot about.
Instead, I found hundreds of websites selling my data—my name, phone number, email, and even home addresses.
Some were recent. Some listed an address I hadn’t lived at in nearly 10 years.
That’s when it hit me.
📌 My personal information had been floating around the internet for a decade—bought, sold, and traded without my knowledge.
And I wasn’t alone. This is happening to everyone.
Your home address is out there.
Your phone number is on marketing lists.
Your purchase history, political affiliations, and even medical searches are being logged and sold to the highest bidder.
And the worst part? Most people don’t even know this is happening.
📌 Who’s collecting and selling your data—and how do you stop it? Let’s dig in.
Who’s Selling Your Data (And How They Got It)
After seeing my personal data listed on hundreds of websites, I had one question:
📌 Who gave them this information?
Turns out, there’s an entire billion-dollar industry built around buying and selling personal data. They’re called data brokers—and they operate in the shadows.
And here’s the kicker:
The data broker industry is worth $200 billion.
There are over 4,000 data broker companies collecting and selling personal information.
One broker alone, Acxiom, claims to have data on 2.5 billion people worldwide.
That means your personal life is being tracked, bought, and sold every single day—without your permission.
Find out how exposed you are:
Here’s how it works:
Step 1: They Collect Your Data (Often Without You Realizing)
Every time you sign up for a “free” service, enter a giveaway, or take a personality quiz—your data is being logged.
Websites, apps, and social media platforms track what you click, search for, and purchase.
Even your grocery store loyalty card is collecting your purchase history and selling it to advertisers.
95% of the top 1,000 websites track your data in some way.
Step 2: They Package and Sell It
Data brokers combine this information to create a profile on you.
These profiles can include your name, phone number, email, home address, shopping habits, political views, health concerns, and more.
Then, they sell that profile to advertisers, credit companies, insurance agencies, and even law enforcement.
📌 And it’s disturbingly accurate. One study found that data brokers could predict a person’s race, income, and relationship status with over 90% accuracy—just from tracking online behavior.
Step 3: Your Data Gets Resold—Over and Over Again
There’s no expiration date. Once your data is out there, it can be bought, sold, and traded indefinitely.
That’s why I found an address from 10 years ago still floating around online—because once your data enters the system, it rarely leaves.
On average, your personal data is sold to at least 7 different companies before you even realize it’s out there.
Who’s Selling You Out? The Biggest Offenders
Some of the biggest players in the data brokering industry include:
Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion – Not just credit reports; they sell consumer data to marketers.
Acxiom & CoreLogic – Build massive profiles on people, tracking everything from shopping habits to legal records.
Oracle & LiveRamp – Collect and sell behavioral data—what you browse, buy, and click on.
Facebook, Google, and TikTok – Track and monetize every single action you take online.
📌 And it’s only getting worse. In 2023 alone, over 422 million personal records were exposed in data breaches—and that’s just the ones we know about.
Have you ever searched to see how much of your info is out there? If so tell me your experience in a comment.
Unless you actively remove yourself, these companies will keep selling your data for years.
How to Remove Yourself from Data Broker Sites (And Stop Them for Good)
At this point, the question isn’t if your data is out there—it’s how much is out there.
The good news? You can fight back.
Removing your personal data from these sites is possible—but it takes work. Data brokers don’t make it easy because your information is their business.
Step 1: Find Out Where Your Data Is Being Sold
Before you can remove your data, you need to see how much is exposed.
✅ Run a free scan on these sites to check where your data is being sold:
Have I Been Sold (haveibeensold.com) – Scans known data brokers to see where your personal info is listed.
Optery (optery.com) – Identifies which data brokers have your information and offers automated removal.
Mine (saymine.com) – Finds what companies hold your data and helps you request removals.
📌 Pro tip: Try Googling your name + “data broker” and see what comes up—you’ll likely find dozens of companies selling your information.
Step 2: Manually Request Data Removal (For Free)
By law, most data brokers have to remove your information if you request it.
Here’s how to do it:
Find the data broker’s opt-out page. (You can Google “[company name] data removal”)
Submit a request to remove your information.
Verify your request. (Some require email confirmation or proof of identity.)
Check back later. (Brokers often re-list data, so you may need to repeat this.)
Here are some of the biggest data brokers and their removal links:
Acxiom – Opt out here
LexisNexis – Opt out here
Experian – Opt out here
Spokeo – Opt out here
Whitepages – Opt out here
📌 Be warned: Some brokers make you submit a copy of your ID to remove data. They do this on purpose to discourage removals.
Step 3: Automate the Process (If You Want It Done for You)
If manually removing yourself sounds exhausting (it is), you can use a removal service to do the work for you.
✔ Optery – Free basic plan; premium plans remove data automatically.
✔ DeleteMe – Removes your data from 50+ brokers, but costs $129/year.
✔ PrivacyBee – Monthly subscription that continuously removes your data.
📌 I recommend starting with Optery’s free scan to see where your data is exposed before deciding on a paid service.
Step 4: Lock Down Your Future Data
Removing your data isn’t a one-time fix. Brokers will try to collect and sell it again.
Here’s how to make sure they don’t:
Use an alias & burner email for online signups (Anonymize your accounts)
Opt out of “people search” sites regularly (They refresh data every few months)
Stop using services that profit off your data (Google, Facebook, etc.)
Use privacy-focused tools to block tracking (Brave Browser, ProtonMail, VPNs)
But let’s be real—this process is tedious and confusing. That’s why I did all the hard work for you and put everything you need in one place.
📌 If you want a complete step-by-step guide to protecting your private personal data, my Digital Privacy Toolkit is the answer.
Why The Digital Privacy Toolkit is Your Best Next Step
Fighting back against data brokers isn’t just about removing your data—it’s about making sure they never get it again.
✔ My Digital Privacy Toolkit includes:
A Personal Cybersecurity Checklist – Secure your accounts, devices, and online presence.
A Home Network Security Guide – Stop tracking at the source with better Wi-Fi security.
A Data Broker Removal Walkthrough – Step-by-step instructions to wipe your data from the web.
A Social Media Privacy Settings Guide – Cut off Big Tech’s data pipeline at the source.
A E-Commerce Safety Guide - Shop online safely and with confidence.
If you’ve ever felt like your personal information isn’t in your control, this is your chance to change that.
🚀 Get the Digital Privacy Toolkit: Click Here
The Bottom Line
Data brokers aren’t going to stop selling your information unless you force them to.
📌 You have two choices:
1️⃣Take action now and start removing yourself from these databases today.
2️⃣ Ignore it and let your personal data continue to be bought, sold, and exposed.
You probably know plenty of people that fall into the second category, and you wonder how they can be so lazy to not take action, especially with something as important as data security.
Take advantage of the years of expertise I have and the effort I put in to finding out the right way to do it so you don’t have to.
Now it’s your turn
Drop a comment: Have you ever found your personal info on a data broker site? How did you feel when you saw it?
Restack this post if you think more people need to know what’s happening with their data.
And if you’re serious about taking control of your digital footprint, get the Digital Privacy Toolkit now and start locking down your information.
🚀 Your privacy is worth fighting for.
Community Mention
This writer is new on the seen and in my opinion is about to blow up! Check out his publication Dark Side Press, all about the cross-section of cybersecurity, emerging tech, and finance. Give him some love and subscribe if it peaks your interest.
If you made it this far, you’re awesome and I appreciate you reading my publication. If you haven’t yet I hope you will become a Firewall Insider and join the fight for control of your data privacy.
You will get access to The Firewall Report an exclusive service where I share real-time alerts on the top cyber threats that affect us all.
Find out about these threats days or sometimes weeks before they are in the news. Saving you the headache of
Until next time…
This is such an in-depth look at your data. I wrote a chapter in my book for how to view your online reputation by using google and other search terms. Also pushing your data down so it doesn’t show up on page one. I didn’t know about some of these sites though. Maybe I’ll include this post in my freebies for the book. Nice job!
I should probably do the same. I've never searched for my personal info on a data broker site, and honestly, it scares me. Thanks for sharing Jason!